Elvis Aaron Presley 1973-1974 | Aloha From Hawaii

Elvis Presley 1973-1974 - Every concert, studio recording and important event in Elvis Presley's Life from his triumphant Aloha From Hawaii Satellite broadcast in January 1973 to December 1974.

Elvis Presley Aloha From Hawaii 1973

Elvis Presley makes television and entertainment history with his Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii - Via Satellite special. Performed at the Honolulu International Center Arena on January 14, 1973, broadcast live at 12:30 AM Hawaiian time, beamed via Globecam Satellite to Australia, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, South Vietnam and other countries. It is seen on a delayed basis in around thirty European countries. A tape of the show will be seen in America on April 4th on NBC. The live broadcast in January attracts 37.8% of the viewers in Japan, 91.8% in the Philippines, 70% in Hong Kong, and 70-80% of the viewers in Korea. The April showing in America will attract 51% of the television viewing audience, and will be seen in more American households than man’s first walk on the moon. In all, it will be seen in about forty countries by one billion to 1.5 billion people. Elvis commissions an American Eagle design for his jumpsuit for this show, his patriotic message to his worldwide audience.* Never has one performer held the world’s attention in such a way. Elvis is in top form physically and vocally. This is probably the pinnacle of his superstardom, one of the all-time great moments of his career.

Elvis was very, very nervous at first. Nobody else had ever done a satellite show before.

He was the very first entertainer, ever, to do a satellite show.

It was very expansive to rent the satellite for one hour, so Colonel Parker went to NBC, because they owned the satellite, actually it was their recording company. So they cut the deal and it was the first one ever.

Elvis was a nervous wreck. But as he went along rehearsing, and enjoying Hawaii, he became very comfortable with it. The thing about it, when you go on a satellite show, you go on stage at a certain time and you got to get off at a certain time, otherwise they will just cut you off, the satellite will cut you off after one hour. So the hardest part that Elvis was worried about, was to time it right.

But as we all know it went along perfectly. Joe Esposito was at the side of the stage while Elvis was performing with a flashlight and about ten minutes before the end time, he flashed the light to let Elvis know he had ten minutes left. It was an unbelievable performance, it was all for charity, and he was very comfortable when he walked on stage. He did a great job, looked fabulous. Can we ask for more?

A great singer, in a great location, great music and its now part of history.

Audience tickets for the January 14 concert and its January 12 pre-broadcast rehearsal show carry no price. Each audience member is asked to pay whatever he or she can. The performances and concert merchandise sales are a benefit raising $75,000 for the Kui Lee Cancer Fund in Hawaii. (Kui Lee was a Hawaiian composer who had died of cancer while still in his thirties.)

February 14, Elvis presents Muhammad Ali, training for his February 14 title defence against Joe Bugner, with a robe emblazoned 'The People's Choice'.
Ali thanked Elvis for the robe and went directly to the Las Vegas Convention Center to beat Joe Bugner.

Ali did not wear the new robe for the fight, but on March 31, 1974, Ali entered the ring at the Sports Arena in San Diego California, proudly wearing the new robe before fighting Ken Norton. The television commentator for the fight said 'That robe was given by Elvis Presley at his last fight in Las Vegas. It cost around $3000.00 and it's Ali's pride and joy. On the back it says 'The People's Choice' in rhinestones and jewels and he loves it' - Ali lost the fight and never again wore the robe considering it bad luck.

October 9, 1973 - Elvis and Priscilla make a court appearance together and their divorce is granted. They will continue to be close friends.

Priscilla has custody of Lisa Marie, however there is no formal schedule of visitation for Elvis, and he and his daughter will spend time together regularly.

In November 1973, at Sam Thompson's house (Linda Thompson's brother) house, Elvis sings and quotes the 'Poem' Ode To A Robin Poem.

'Baby What You Want Me To Do', 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry', 'Spanish Eyes', 'See See Rider' and 'That's All Right' were released on the FTD CD, Made In Memphis. These are very nice informal recordings. Also on the CD are alternate takes of Elvis recoding's 'made in Memphis', from Elvis' sessions in Memphis in 1969 (American Sound Studio), 1973 (Stax Recording Studio) and 1976 (the den at Graceland). Altogether a very good CD release.

The poem was released on the Crazy : The Funny Side Of Elvis Presley CD.

Elvis Presley 1974

1974, was in many ways the calm before the storm.

There were no major events, no studio recording sessions, and only modest record sales. Elvis spent much of the year on the road in his busiest touring schedule since the '50s, supplementing his his customary two seasons at Las Vegas with two engagements at Lake Tahoe and four tours.

Here we find Elvis fresh and with a new repertoire, which surprisingly includes two 1970 standards Sweet Caroline and You've Lost That Loving Feeling as well as Polk Salad Annie. Well before this CD ever came out fans were asking Ernst for this CD and Ernst has included as much as possible from this season.

'The Montgomery show was outstanding. Elvis seemed in good spirits and wore the Aloha from Hawaii jumpsuit. The cape was brought out and laid on top of the piano but Elvis didn't use it unfortunately.

Elvis did an outstanding show with some great karate moves and poses during Polk Salad! He looked great and really seemed to enjoy himself and the crowd. I was very fortunate to have seats on the 4th row and I took almost 9 rolls of film. The better the show the more pics I took! To say I would get carried away is an understatement!
- George Hill

March 16-17 - Elvis plays Memphis for the first time since 1961 and does four shows in two days to meet the demand for tickets. Another live album results from the excitement in Memphis, Elvis Recorded Live On Stage in Memphis, recorded at one of the shows. Included is a live performance of How Great Thou Art that will go on to win Elvis his third Grammy award.

Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis. This new CD release includes all the songs that were left out of the original album, and the whole show has been freshly remixed. The packaging is the same 7" format as the movie soundtracks including a booklet with pictures and information about the show.

Above, Colonel Parker sent this note to Elvis to let him know that all of Elvis' upcoming tour dates in California and at the Sahara Tahoe for May of 1974 were sold out.

On May 11, 1974, Led Zeppelin attended Elvis Presley's evening concert at the Los Angeles Forum. After a shaky start on Funny How Time Slips Away, Elvis stopped the song and jokingly said: 'Wait a minute... If we can start together fellas, because we've got Led Zeppelin out there... let's try to look like we know what we're doing, whether we do or not'. Read more and listen to an Interview with Robert Plant,
of Led Zeppelin who talks about Elvis' influence on his career and meeting him at his hotel after this concert.

16 May 8.30pm
17 May 8.30pm
17 May Midnight
18 May 8.30pm
18 May Midnight
19 May 8.30pm
19 May Midnight
20 May 8.30pm
20 May Midnight
21 May 8.30pm
21 May Midnight
22 May 8.30pm
22 May Midnight
23 May 8.30pm High Sierra - May '74 CD

The main body of the release is the rehearsal recorded at RCA's studio on Sunset Blvd on August 16, 1974. There is a bonus section on Disc 2 with 10 live recordings from August/September 1974.

Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, Nv

August 19, Elvis opens the annual 'Elvis Summer Festival' at the Las Vegas Hilton with an entirely new program. Gone is the 2001 introduction and the medley of past bits. Blues like 'Big Boss Man', 'My Baby Left Me', and 'Down in the Alley' replace some of the more sentimental numbers, although two songs by Olivia Newton-John more than make up for these omissions. Elvis seems invigorated simply to be reinventing the show, as evidenced by the Hollywood Reporter's panegyric to 'the best show ... in at least three years. [Presley] looks great, is singing better than he has in years, and was so comfortable with his show almost all new songs—the packed Hilton showroom gave him several standing ovations.'

August 20, Despite the reviews, by the second night almost all the new material is gone, the 2001 theme is back, and the show returns to its old format. Perhaps it was the fan reaction, which according to one British fan report (and contrary to the Hollywood Reporter), was more reserved than usual on opening night. But it may be nothing more than a bad case of nerves. Tom Jones is frequently in the audience during this time.

It's Midnight is a soundboard recording of Elvis Presley live at the Las Vegas Hilton, August 24, 1974 - Midnight Show. The show is a solid performance. Better than most of his early '73 performances and sure much better than most of his '76 shows. Elvis is in fine voice, he is relaxed, and the performances are solid. His is in very good humor throughout the show, although his a little acid in some of his jokes, maybe a side effect of his disappointment in have to be back to the old pattern. But the show itself is interesting because he kept the base of the new concert, so all the new songs are here: 'If You Love Me (Let Me Know)', 'It's Midnight', 'If You Talk In Your Sleep', 'Softly...', omitting only 'Promised Land' and 'Good Times Charlie's Got The Blues'.

After the August 24 midnight show Elvis paints one of the decorative eighteenth century, court-of-Louis-XIV ladies on the showroom wall black, with the help of Jerry Schilling and Red West.

Elvis proudly points to his handiwork in nearly all of the succeeding shows, comparing himself jokingly to Michelangelo painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Elvis Presley receiving his 8th Degree San Black Belt certificate from Master Kang Rhee, at a private ceremony. The presentation took place on September 16, 1974 at Master Rhee's studio in Memphis. The awards presentation was very 'low key' in comparison to other events that involved Elvis. Elvis accepted his award in witness of his fellow students and their families.

This closing show was interesting because of all several 'firsts' - Kathy Westmorland and J.D.Sumner set Elvis up with J.D taking over Kathy's words in The Hawaiian Wedding Song as J.D. sang 'I do love you'. This caused Elvis to jump about 10 feet back as he was caught unawares here.

Also Elvis asked Kathy to sing a Solo called My Heavenly Father for the first time at this show. This is the Kind of show (if released) which would make an excellent addition to the follow that Dream collectors CD series.

Interesting here is Duke Bardwell performing a ditty about a man leaving his body to medical science (written by John Prine) as apparently the line ' ..send my mouth way down south and kiss my ass goodbye' really appealed to Colonel Parker as after the show he sent Tom Diskin to tell Duke that his performance was one of the funniest things I have ever seen at an Elvis Presley Show!. Elvis himself hadn't been aware that Duke could sing and so he got called up to Elvis' suite with Linda Thompson Present after the Show.

Pretty soon Elvis had Duke singing another of his songs called You and I Duke had written for his Sisters Wedding. Elvis had Duke play it again and again and again until he got enthused enough to say 'I wanna record that song'. Once again when the Colonel was contacted about Elvis recording Duke's song it fell apart because a publishing deal couldn't be worked out. once again Elvis' enthusiasm for recording was quashed and Elvis wouldn't record again until 1975 with 1974 recording schedules (set for November, then December) cancelled due to his declining health.

* Track listing is not 100% correct, but compiled from Press, Fan reviews which acts as a good Guide to the actual content performed- information about this short Lake Tahoe Season in particular is difficult to find.

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Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley's songs are unforgettable - they have stood the test of time, especially his singles of the 1950s, a decade in which he had a song at No. 1. for 59 weeks and 4 No. 1 albums ('56-'59). Read More.